or f-!eChon. bidden; and under Mofrs's La·N, they were fo put away !\range Wives, as de- ~ filed by them . Chap. 4· The ferond Scruple in it (and which arifeth tothisday,)w"' aboUt the !late~ and condition of the Children begotten by fuch a Communion, le!l they lhould be accurfed by reafon of the unbelieving Parent; feeing the Threatnings !o much run againfl the Children for their Parent•, as in the fecond Comlnande-. ment : And le!l fuch Children might not lofe the priviledge of thofe Promi les made ro the Seed of the Godly, through the one Parents unbelief; yea,and left they fhould in the Churches account, and that warrant from God, be account• edmrclemz; as the Children of !lrange Wives were accounted of old,although the Father was a Jew, and fo to be feparated from the oth.cr, N ehemiah ·9· 2.• . Now to this cafe the Apo(l]e anfwers roundly and fully, and as punctually to both thefe Scruples as could be defired, by affirming the clean contrary; name– ly, that for the act of communion with fuch a Husband; [The Husbandis fim· flified i11 the believiNg Wif'e] that is, ' ·· Both in conjugal acts , q11oad 11[11m, to her, fo as lhe may a& holily have communion with him, as if her Husband were a Believer as well as as lhe : And 2,alfo,He is fand:ified in her,or through her, to all the ends of Marriage, that fo by her the ble!ling of the Covetunt lhould be derived to Children begotren by him, as fully as if ·he were a Belie– ver: And that they need not fear that their Children were unclemz, as when both Parents are Unbelievers, the Apo(l]e intimates that they are to be fo e– !leeined; which I take to be the meaning of thofe words, Elfe they were :m– elt an: that is, if that Gael had not thus fan&ified an unbelieving Husband in the Wife, lhe being a Believer, they would indeed have been fuch; [B11t 11ow] that is, in this cafe, one of them being a Believer, [their Cbitdren are boty] as well as if both Parents were Believers; They receive no prejudice from the unbelieving Parent ; Gbd's Covenant with the believing -Parent and his Ordi– nance, prevailing more to fanctifie both that Act to the Believer, and alfo to convey the bleffing of the Promife, ( Holinefs to their Children) than the un– belief of the Husband is able, either to defile the act, or to convey the curfe. threatned to Unbelievers Children. This is the fum of his Anfwer in Gene" raJ. . T he fecond Particular to be confidered fat the explication of thefe words; is the Preface which he makes to his refoliuion of the Cafe: or that which he premifeth for the warrant er authority by wliic!J.Ile is to folve it : And therein · he tells us, t. That there is this difference between this latter cafe and that for– mer, about arbitrary Divorces; that that cafe the L<lrd Chri!l himlelfhad de– cided already (as ~atth. 19, 3·) ~nd fo, therein he lhould but command what Chri!l had faid in that point ~!ready ; That Divorces at pleafure ought not to be (as among the Jews and Gentiles they were frequent ) fo vrrfe 1 o. To the married I command, }tt not I, but the Lord, ~c. But to this latter cafe, and thofe that follow, he Prefaceth thus; To the refl [peak I, not the Lord, verje 12.. that is, I find not an exprefs word already , either uttered by Chri(l himfelf when on Earth, nO.. in the New Te!lament to folve it by; neither dotl> the R ule about this Cafe given in the Old Te!lament to the Jews, hold now, to bind the Gentiles under the Gofpel, this being a new Cafe of a clean diffe– rent nature frorit theirs : And there being under the Gofpel an alteration made of the Jews Ceremonial and Typical Laws, and the Judicials that.were found– ed thereon. So as this remained entirely to be decided by his Apo!lol ical Spi– rit: Thereforehe fays, Tothis [peak I : that is, I as an Apo!lle, guided by the Spirit of Chri(l, do give this following folution of it, For th•t he rcfol– ved thi•, and the reil that follow, as infallibly guided by the Spirit, he tells us in the clofure of them, vrrfe 40, I11 my judgment, and I think I h.1ve tbt Spirit of God: fo that your Confcienccs m•y reil in thefe Refolutions as from God, 2. ln fol ving this Cafe he gives a caution and limitation to what he faith about it, that he intended only to fpeak this for the comfort of fuch P' rfons, who arc already married, ( perhaps when Unbclievcn, but lincecaOtd ) and not at all to thofe who ore as yet to marry; left thefe words of his !hould be a– ny encouragement, or be underfiood to give liberty to any , to milrry an Un· F f f believer,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=